For over 30 years, Gogo Business Aviation’s commitment to strategically planned innovation has been the driving force behind the introduction of a long list of industry-defining airborne connectivity products and services.
It seems appropriate that the idea behind business aviation’s first dedicated air-to-ground (ATG) airborne connectivity provider started with a phone call.
As Gogo Business Aviation (then Aircell) founder, Jimmy Ray, related the story, back in 1991, he received a call from an aircraft owner asking if he had thought about the possibility of using the blossoming cellular network to provide air-to-ground (ATG) calling capabilities. No, he hadn’t.
But, with years of experience in the telecommunications industry, Ray was fascinated by the idea. So much so that after a lot of thought, a bit of research, and a good Texas BBQ dinner, the design for what would become the first ATG cellular network was sketched out on a napkin.
“It was the innovative idea for how what is now Gogo Business Aviation would come to be,” explains Gogo Business Aviation’s Director of Product Support, Todd Krawczyk. “That sketch (showing how aircraft could use the current terrestrial cellular network) planted the seed for our ongoing dedication to using innovative products and services to exceed customer expectations at every turn.”
Innovation + a dash of luck = success.
Ray’s original plan for the new analog ATG network was to “piggyback” on the terrestrial carriers’ unused cellular frequencies. While the concept could work, a variety of technical limitations would put a damper on the young company’s ability to expand its services.
“Our big break came in 2006 when we won the FCC’s auction for a significant block of the licensed cellular frequency spectrum,” Krawczyk says. “That allowed us to take the next big step and introduce our high-speed, ATG broadband services – another first for business aviation.”
With the ability to now deliver broadband connectivity in hand, the company now had the capability to bring other innovations online, including the introduction of its Gogo Vision in-flight entertainment (IFE) system in 2011.
“IFE wasn’t new, but we were the first in business aviation to be really successful because we did it differently,” Krawczyk explains. “We take great pride in the fact that some big names have come and gone, and we are still the leader in that segment.”
He continued to say that it wasn’t just the types of movies, TV programs, e-magazines, and moving maps that put Gogo Vision on top; it was also the innovative way the company delivered its IFE content. They were the first to be able to deliver their programming wirelessly over the air directly to the aircraft.
“We really know what our customers want, and we know what we can do well. We then focus on those competencies and find new ways to do things better,” Krawczyk adds. “For example, we deliver IFE as a service to the aircraft. Our customers don’t have to think about it – once they park the aircraft and connect it to our Cloud network, it’s all taken care of seamlessly.”
While connecting your aircraft to the Internet while on the ramp may not seem very innovative – other satellite providers do it – the fact is Gogo Business Aviation doesn’t do it like everyone else. They’ve innovated a better solution.
“A lot of people don’t know that when the aircraft is on the ground, our AVANCE LRUs will switch over and use a T-Mobile terrestrial modem card to connect via a local cellular network,” Krawczyk says. “That increases the reliability of that connection. Then when the aircraft takes off, the AVANCE system will automatically switch over to our ATG network when it reaches 3,000 feet.”
That 3,000-foot base for broadband connectivity is another innovation for Gogo Business Aviation – currently, all other providers are limited to roughly 10,000 feet.
Promises made. Promises kept.
While the business aviation landscape is littered with companies who have made big product announcements only to have them come up woefully short, Gogo Business Aviation isn’t one of them. Gogo’s innovations can be seen across the industry and are used by thousands.
“Take our Gogo Vision IFE service, for example; it began as a planned progression of capabilities,” Krawczyk says. “We built a network to deliver the IFE content ‘wirelessly,’ then we introduced our Gogo Cloudport, which is now our primary vehicle for delivering that content.
“We recently increased the Cloudport’s capabilities again to enable us to monitor the health and status of the Gogo components on the aircraft. That enables us to proactively fix issues before they impact the customer’s user experience,” he continues. “With that capability proven, very soon we will add additional capabilities enabling a customer to update or reconfigure the AVANCE LRU on their aircraft anywhere in the world – no other connectivity provider in business aviation can offer that capability,”
Krawczyk stresses that no matter what innovation they plan on delivering, it’s being designed to be part of a planned continual progression – steadily and reliably building one innovation to complement another.
30 years of innovation and not slowing down.
Whether it’s the original analog ATG network, the Cloud-based Gogo Vision IFE, its software-based AVANCE platform, its industry-leading 5G solution, or the soon-to-be-launched low Earth orbit (LEO) broadband satellite offering, every Gogo Business Aviation product or service is an evolutionary step forward.
“To us, innovation is all about having the foresight to create products and solutions that deliver more than what came before,” Krawczyk says. “That’s what our customers have come to expect from Gogo.”
But aside from reliable connectivity, how does Gogo know what its customers really want? Simple. They ask them.
“We have very active Customer and Dealer Advisory Councils, and we meet with them at regular intervals to get their insights into what we are doing well and where we can improve, and to gain insight into other things they would like us to do. Their guidance has been extremely helpful in getting us get to where we are today.”
“They know when they invest in our systems and services that we’re not going to stop. We are going to be consistently looking and listening to what they want to improve their in-flight experiences,” he continues. “Innovation is part of our DNA. We’re not interested in providing ‘me too’ products and services. Our focus has always been on delivering capabilities that are not just new and disruptive, but to also deliver a more valuable service to our customers.”
But, Krawczyk stresses that to everyone at Gogo Business Aviation, true innovation doesn’t begin and end in their current customers’ aircraft. Their goal is to bring airborne connectivity to everyone who wants it.
“Right now, about 70 percent of the business aircraft worldwide do not have any kind of connectivity, and just like we did 30 years ago, we’re looking to change that,” he says. “Current satellite connections are too expensive, or the components are too big and heavy to fit on smaller aircraft. Our new-generation LEO broadband satellite service is being developed to change that and to serve business aircraft of all types and sizes, not just the heavy iron.”
“For over 30 years, we have continued to innovate our services and delight our customers on a consistent and ongoing basis,” Krawczyk adds. “People aren’t surprised by what we do. They know it’s who we are.”